This new thread occurred to me while reading posts comparing Spitz to Phelps, as well as reflecting upon mortality considering heart attacks etc. In swimming we immortalize individuals or teams for various feats or contributions, but do little to preserve a feeling for subsequent generations of enthusiasts about what it was like to train and compete 'back in the day'. Just what day am I talking about? Exactly: there have been many 'days' or more properly 'eras' that can be narrowly characterized by differences in equipment, distances swum and trained, coaching methods or more widely by larger factors: world war, global depression, racial segregation, inequality of the sexes. All of these can contribute to very different experiences than what are common today to the younger swimmer; hence, 'what was it like'. I visualize a thread that continues to be added to as new people read it and remember their own experiences. As well, experience can vary with national origin, not just era. There have already been posts on this topic scattered in various threads, please feel free to copy or quote material from them to here.
Please remember that this is not about how fast a particular swimmer was, but about the conditions that defined competitive swimming of that day.
We also have a priceless resource out there: aging swimmers in their 80's or 90's who may be less likely to read or hear of this thread; why not ask them for some of their memories or impressions and pass them on to us, while we still can?
Parents
Former Member
My agegroup coach once pulled a kid out of the water by his hair and ripped his necklace off of his neck....he would routinely peg loafers in the head with kickboards and pullbuoys....nobody thought anything of it back then?
Newmastersswimmer
My first college coach use to throw metal chairs at us...well let me clarify...he would stand at end of the pool, in front of our lanes, with said metal chair, and drop it on our fingers-head if we stayed there too long on open turns for butterfly and breaststroke. It was to encourage fast walls, and boy did it work...granted this wasnt very long ago...3 years...and i'm sure he still does it today. But he is a very old coach.
My US coach would regularly throw kickboards and pull buoys at us if we werent swimming fast enough or pulled on the lane lines.
My agegroup coach once pulled a kid out of the water by his hair and ripped his necklace off of his neck....he would routinely peg loafers in the head with kickboards and pullbuoys....nobody thought anything of it back then?
Newmastersswimmer
My first college coach use to throw metal chairs at us...well let me clarify...he would stand at end of the pool, in front of our lanes, with said metal chair, and drop it on our fingers-head if we stayed there too long on open turns for butterfly and breaststroke. It was to encourage fast walls, and boy did it work...granted this wasnt very long ago...3 years...and i'm sure he still does it today. But he is a very old coach.
My US coach would regularly throw kickboards and pull buoys at us if we werent swimming fast enough or pulled on the lane lines.
